Fall of Mazar-i-Sharif

The Fall of Mazar-i-Sharif occurred from 9 to 10 November 2001 during the invasion of Afghanistan. The US-backed Northern Alliance forces captured the Taliban's northern stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif after a day of fighting, turning over control of the north to the Northern Alliance and delivering a body shock to the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies.

Background
Mazar-i-Sharif was the fourth-largest city in Afghanistan and a major northern Taliban stronghold, having formerly been a base for Abdul Rashid Dostum's Junbish-i-Milli faction. After the Taliban's 1998 capture of the city, they massacred its Shia population, provoking international condemnation.

During the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan, Mazar-i-Sharif was a major target of the US and its Northern Alliance allies. In the days leading up to the battle, phonelines into the city were severed, and Northern Alliance warlords (and mortal rivals) Dostum and Atta Muhammad Nur's forces advanced on the city with support from US Green Berets teams and the CIA. Dostum's Junbish forces advanced from the southwest, Atta Muhammad Nur's Tajik-dominated Jamiat-e Islami forces advanced from the south, and Mohammad Mohaqiq's Hezbe Wahdat forces also took part in the offensive from the north.

Battle
On 7 and 8 November, the Taliban attempted to move 4,000 fighters across the countryside towards Mazar-i-Sharif. The Taliban forces came under heavy bombing from US B-52s,  but the Taliban were able to infiltrate 500 fighters into the city to prepare for the coming battle. On 9 November, in the Battle of Tiangi, a force of 5,000-12,000 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters were defeated by Dostum's US-backed forces, and they were forced to withdraw towards Kunduz to regroup. Between 400 and 600 of them died in the battle, while 1,500 Taliban were captured or defected.

In the following days, as many as 900 Pakistani volunteers reached Mazar-i-Sharif, having been inspired by extremist cleric and TNSM founder Sufi Muhammad's preaching that those who went on jihad would live forever in paradise. They arrived as the Taliban began evacuating the city, leaving them confused; they ultimately took up positions in the abandoned Sultan Razia Girls' School. For almost two days, they built up their fighting positions, and they vehemently refused surrender demands, killing two peace envoys, a town mullah, and a soldier escort. They also fired at all of those who walked through the vicinity, including civilian bystanders. In an hours-long gun battle, the Northern Alliance forces fought for control of the school, and they found graffiti reading "Die for Pakistan", "Never surrender", and "Our philosophy has been surrender or die." The Northern Alliance forces massacred surrendering Pakistani volunteers, and an American warplane dropped two 1,000-lb bombs on the building. The Northern Alliance fighters shot on the Pakistanis as they fled, and the bombs and gunfire killed around 800 of them. The fall of the school marked Mazar's fall and the liberation of the north.

Aftermath
The fall of the city was a major shock, as the Americans had anticipated that the Taliban would hold it into the next year. Its capture opened supply routes and provided an airstrip in the country for US aircraft (although the booby-trapped and damaged airfield would not be operational until 11 December), and the battle was the Taliban's first major defeat, liberating a large portion of the country. 1,000 US Army Rangers were then airlifted into the city to prepare for a possible Taliban counterattack by Mullah Dadullah's 8,000 fighters. It was said that the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif was considered to be al-Qaeda's worst defeat.